Weiner Steps Back, for Now, From Mayoral Race

After delivering seemingly ironclad vows that he would run for mayor, Representative Anthony D. Weiner cast serious doubt on his candidacy on Wednesday, telling supporters that he would not decide whether to enter the race until late spring.

His sudden — and very public — ambivalence could significantly reshape the campaign. Mr. Weiner, 44, a Democratic congressman, tireless political street-fighter and dogged critic of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, has been considered a threat to the mayor’s re-election.

If he leaves the field, what many had expected to be a spirited Democratic primary could dissolve into a placid affair, with William C. Thompson Jr., the city comptroller, easily winning the nomination in the fall.

“More and more, it’s looking like this is not a fight that Weiner wants to take on,” said Scott Levenson, a Democratic political consultant who is not aligned with any campaign this year.

In a letter to about 1,300 campaign supporters, Mr. Weiner, who has already raised about $6.6 million for the race, said he would make up his mind at the end of May, three months before the primary. At that time, he wrote, he would “look at the lay of the land again and try to determine the best political course.”

Mr. Weiner, a six-term congressman whose district covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens, told supporters that with the national economy in tatters and the city’s residents looking to lawmakers in Washington for help, his focus was on Congress, not city politics.

The letter suggested that Mr. Weiner’s supporters have become anxious about his disengagement from the campaign. In the New York City political world, the letter intensified rampant speculation that Mr. Weiner would ultimately sit out the contest for mayor.

Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Thompson are already hiring campaign staff and stumping around the city. But Mr. Weiner — a disciple of Senator Charles E. Schumer, who is known for Sunday news conferences replete with color-coded billboards — has remained on the sidelines.

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Representative Anthony D. Weiner, who has raised about $6.6 million for a mayoral race, said Wednesday that he would decide in May whether to run.Credit
Patrick Andrade for The New York Times

Those close to Mr. Weiner said he was crushed by the mayor’s successful campaign to re-engineer the city’s term limits law and seek a third term. It turned the mayor into the instant favorite and shattered Mr. Weiner’s sense that the race was his.

Yet in an interview on Wednesday night, Mr. Weiner denied that he was worried about the odds of defeating the popular mayor. “That is not what this is about,” he said. “We are in a position to wage a good smart successful campaign.”

Even some of his own contributors have their doubts, though. Asked about Mr. Weiner’s letter, George S. Kaufman, a real estate developer who gave Mr. Weiner’s campaign the legal limit of $4,950, attributed it to the mayor’s lead in the polls.

In 2005, he did not declare his candidacy until August, just a month before the Democratic primary. A similar strategy this year would allow him to avoid relentless television and radio attacks from Mr. Bloomberg, whose campaign has suggested it would spend up to $20 million just to knock Mr. Weiner out of the race.

“It is not in his interest to have this campaign kick into gear early,” said a Democrat who spoke with Mr. Weiner about the campaign but insisted on anonymity for fear of antagonizing him. “He has limited resources,” the person said. “So he can’t get into a shooting war with the mayor because the mayor will destroy him.”

Sean Patrick Maloney, a former aide to Govs. Eliot Spitzer and David A. Paterson, said Mr. Weiner was wise to “focus on substance and step back from being seen as a political animal. What people are looking for right now is problem solvers.”

Mr. Weiner, in the interview, also said he did not intend to challenge Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand next year.

Mr. Weiner’s letter caught both of his rivals by surprise yesterday, and their campaigns scrambled to capitalize on it, painting him as indecisive and overly concerned with his political standing.

Eduardo Castell, Mr. Thompson’s campaign manager, said, “Bill Thompson is running for mayor and that is what he will do,” he said.

Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign, said that “for the mayor, it’s not about choosing the best political course — it’s about doing the right things.”

Raymond Hernandez contributed reporting.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: Weiner Steps Back, for Now, From a Race for Mayor. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe